The Curious Case of Daood Gilani alias David Headley & co

[SSridhar]

Many have mentioned above that the text of the guilty plea agreement goes out of the way to soften the blow to the Pakis.

That whereas the Danish plot affair is laid out in detail, on the other hand, on the Mumbai attacks, even the names of confirmed Lashkar/Paki-army masterminds are hidden in the plea text by giving them names such as Lashkar alpha, beta, ch*tia, delta etc.

The US wants much of the Headley affair hidden from the Indians. The Pakis will know much of what the US is not willing to let out. The US knows that the Pakis know this, and will be very grateful if the Pakis will help keep its Headley secrets hidden.

In this instance (like in many others), the interests of the US and the Pakis have strong convergence.

Very true indeed. This is what I posted on Jan. 16

My hunch is that the entire Headley/Rana indictment in a US Court is to tread a fine line between fighting terror and protecting the H&D of Pakistan against India. The US efforts seem to be to expose Pakistan if a Western interest is involved but firewall & protect Pakistan if it was a matter involving India however grievous it might be. It carefully and blatantly avoids mentioning names of any Army officers (in service or retired) while Maj. (Retd.) Abdur Rehman's name has been openly mentioned as a person involved in the Jyllands-Posten case. I cannot believe that a Pakistani Army Officer involved in a far away Danish plot would not have been involved in plots against any Pakistani Army officer's only mortal enemy, India. I believe that the incidents around Maj. (Retd.) Abdur Rehman have been re-constructed to avoid India.

[merlin]

The MMS government must explain if they allowed Kasab to be questioned by the FBI or other US authorities? In exchange for that we still haven't had access to Headley. It has been proved time and again that the US is untrustworthy and will go to any lengths to protect its ally Pakistan often at the cost of Indian lives, yet the MMS government persists in sucking upto it in all matters.

Merlin, I understand your anger. I am equally angry, but that is not going to help matters. Let's leave aside our anger and try to reason it out.

Yes, the US intelligence agency was allowed to interrogate Kasab because we stood to gain from the US interrogation. They have indeed given us a lot of information. The FBI team even deposed before the Judge hearing the 26/11 case. We still have to learn a lot more and need the support of the US agencies and government for the same.

This is the problem - depending on others to learn stuff which we should be doing ourselves as it concerns a matter of vital importance to us. We seem to have outsourced our intelligence capabilities to the Americans as well.

Yes, we have not had nor will we ever have a similar unfettered access to Headley because the US is clearly trying to calibrate how much he can reveal and how much he cannot because that may not be in their national interests.

This does rightfully raise our rage, however impotent it may be. However, at this point in time, the relationship with the US is unequal and mostly favourable to it. We have to simply bide our time. We believe that we have no ace up our sleeves and whatever little leverage we may have, we may feel shy to use it to our advantage. That's the way we are. Unless a new crop of younger leaders arrives on the scene, there is no possibility of change in Indian approach. So, we should get whatever help we can to expose Pakistan now and more importantly understand their terror organizations to save future Indian lives.

That's a cop out. Saying that's the way we are is a nice way of not doing anything.

But, we should not let go of our sights and continue to remind the US at every opportunity that while six Americans might have died, over 160 Indian lives have also been lost and many more have been injured and traumatized and this has been going on for years. We should keep hammering away that it was the US backing that emboldened Pakistan to use terror as a weapon of state policy against India first and now against the rest of the humanity too. We have to make them feel the guilt.

I could not believe I read that. Make them feel the guilt? They are protecting their interests and they will feel guilty about that?

We should constantly reiterate our determination to tackle the problem with or without the help of anybody else. We must also back up our words with some action against Pakistan, preferably overt, that leaves none in doubt about our determination. As I keep saying, our options against Pakistan are many and we must make use of the entire range. In the process, let us jeopardize the US interests in the region or at least threaten to do so. Let us make it more difficult for the US here.

Threatening will not do. The US has demonstrated that they will protect their interests at the cost of ours. Let us reciprocate.

It will be too easy to brand the US as 'untrustworthy', but from the US point of view, they are doing their utmost to protect and further their interests all the time, with friends and foes alike. Why are we expecting scruples in practice of statecraft and then feel disappointed ? If India is scrupulous in international affairs, it reflects that personal characteristics and beliefs are seeping into foreign policies, a dangerous mix indeed.

Untrustworthy was perhaps an unfortunate choice of words. But let us protect our interests. IMO, now, that does not lie in cooperating with the US by feeding it intelligence that we may have that might help them in protect their interests at the cost of ours. All this access to Headley business is just a fig leaf around that fact that we aren't going to get any more information that we already don't know.

Today, the US feels that India lacks the courage to counter attack and so it takes a particular line of strategy in handling Pakistan, which is mostly detrimental to us. The time has obviously come for us to make the US change its tactic by revising our approach to Pakistan. Every major terrorist incident, like the Red Fort attack, the J&K Assembly attack, the Parliament attack, the Mumbai commuter train attack, the serial attacks in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi etc went unchallenged and every time our leaders promised that another incident would invite retaliation, without really following through. India is thus considered as a status-quo power willing to absorb blows. Unless this perception changes, we have no hope. I do not distinguish among our political classes and parties as far as this non-retaliatory trait goes.

That is what needs to change and change fast if we don't want every two bit jihadi and his master to think that they can attack India and Indians with impunity and get away with it. At this rate of non-retaliation we might have a JDAM detonated in one of our cities and the likes of MMS explaining it away as just a misunderstanding between brothers

[chetak]

One little thing has bothered me now for weeks .

We all take it for granted that headley was a double agent for the DEA.

He was arrested for smuggling heroin into the US. He must have had friends and accomplices who were aware of his arrest, his sentencing and the terms of his sentence.

His friends must have monitored his release after 2 odd years. The original drug smuggler friends must have been made aware of it and the simplest thought that would have crossed their mind is that some sort of a deal must have been cut with the US authorities. They would not have trusted him or even tolerated him.

Such a person frequently and easily travels to the remotest areas of pakiland, a feat that would not have been possible without the intimate knowledge and abetment of the ISI or the paki army. Even if the LeT had him initially, the isi or the paki army would have taken him over in a flash.

He was always traveling from the international airports in pakiland to the remote areas. If he had clandestinely slipped in from iran or afganistan and gone about his nasty business then the pakis may, just may have been out of the loop. But we know that was not the case.

The pakis were certainly running him, as were the americans.

Now that the US has manipulated their judicial system to bury this guy deep within it thereby virtually denying physical access to the Indians, the real question is did the americans allow the pakis run the Bombay attack ? How much did the US know before the attack actually took place?

A convicted criminal who changed his name, paki -american parentage to boot, with a penchant for frequent travel to the middle east, India and pakiland?? ( Yes, I know that he had a passport in his new and american sounding name.) This must have set off all sorts of alarm bells across several countries with the exception of India, with our atithi devo bhava culture.

The americans are as complicit in this as the pakis.

Please excuse me for quoting my own post but I think that it is relevant


http://www.dailypioneer.com/243589/To-p ... appen.html

Sunday, March 21, 2010
To protect Headley, did US let 26/11 happen?

Swapan Dasgupta

During the 2008 US presidential election there was a belief in New Delhi that a Barack Obama presidency would trigger the re-calibration of Indo-American relations. Translated into English, it implied concern that the new guy wouldn’t accord the same priority to Indian concerns as President George W Bush did. At that time we were assured by star-struck Indian reporters in Washington, DC, that this was poppycock and a function of the deranged Islamophobia of the Dick Cheney Fan Club. Obama, we were informed, saw Hanuman as his lucky mascot. The more sober interlocutors informed us that the Cold War was over, that India was no longer a hyphenated link with Pakistan and that the relationship was on auto-pilot.

It’s now 14 months since Obama assumed office and the special relationship forged by Bush shows distinct signs of wear and tear. I may be guilty of only a minor exaggeration in suggesting that the middle class euphoria that propelled the India-US nuclear accord (and played a role in the UPA’s undeserved re-election last May) has dissipated, if not disappeared. It has been replaced by a growing surge of anti-Americanism, not very dissimilar to the one being witnessed in Israel, another country where a strategic partnership was allegedly etched in stone.

As opposed to the civilisational anti-Americanism that binds the Marxist to the mullah, this wariness of Uncle Sam is entirely political and centred on the belief that the US doesn’t give a toss for Indian sensitivities. Worse, it has got entangled with the feeling that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is more concerned with obliging the US than doing what is right for India.

This new surge of anti-Americanism may not be adequately reflected in the mainstream media where editors and diplomatic correspondents are curiously circumspect in questioning US motives, but it is real and predates the kerfuffle over the alleged cover-up in the David Coleman Headley case.

The doubts over the Obama Administration’s bona fides are strongest in India’s ‘strategic community’, the charmed circle of diplomats, spooks, security experts and interested politicians. The Headley case has suggested a grey zone of complicity between US Intelligence and its asset who may have turned into a double agent. It is, after all, scarcely conceivable that Headley could have undergone five spells of training in a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba camp, from late-2005 to October 2009, without being on the radar of US counter-terrorism. Circumstantial evidence points to Headley undertaking his jihadi activities with the knowledge, and possibly consent, of US authorities. Till much after the Mumbai attacks, Headley wasn’t regarded as a rogue agent.

In 1940, Winston Churchill had advance warning that the Luftwaffe was planning a massive raid on Coventry. He wilfully shied away from ordering the RAF to repel the bombers because he didn't want to let on to the Germans that the British had cracked one of their most secure codes. Likewise, there is a theory that the US didn’t share its prior knowledge of the 26/11 attack because it wanted its asset to gain the full trust of the LeT leadership and be privy to information of future conspiracies.

If true, the implication is quite chilling. It suggests that a section of US Intelligence chose to sit on specific information of the Mumbai attacks because the target was India and its principal objective is to safeguard America and its citizens. In other words, Indian lives are always at a discount compared to American lives — a charming message in the context of the sharply discounted liability ceiling in the proposed Nuclear Liability Bill. Of course, six US citizens also died in the Mumbai attacks and, maybe, this proved to be Headley’s undoing.

There are many questions that Indian investigators have for Headley when the US prison authorities grant access to him — curiously, they have already given the Danish police access to him. However, there are an equal number of questions that India must ask the US authorities. The most important of these is a blunt query: Did you wilfully allow the massacre of 160 innocents in pursuance of a game that lacks a winning strategy?

The US can, of course, retort that it did warn India of maritime attacks. Indeed it did and this is a lapse that will haunt India’s counter-terrorism establishment. Yet, there is a difference between general warnings and ‘actionable intelligence’. Did the US deny India ‘actionable intelligence’ which it had? If so, the implications are grave.

In July 2008, the US had ‘actionable intelligence’ about the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul which killed 58 people. Rather than provide it to the Indian agencies in real time, it chose to route it through the Afghan authorities. The delay was callous.

If the US strategy lies in identifying the masterminds of terror and identifying the complete network, we can perhaps explain the deaths in Mumbai — just as Churchill could explain the destruction of Coventry to himself. Headley’s testimony is categorical on one count: The epicentre of terrorism is located in Pakistan. Headley has also removed all ambiguity over the LeT’s involvement.

What does the US propose to do with this information? So far it plans to outsource Afghanistan to Pakistan.

What Headley has so far left unsaid are two things. First, the identities of LeT terrorists, who are referred to as A, B, C and D. And, second, whether he provided his US handlers a full account of his jihadi activities at each stage.

If India had full access to Headley and the right to both extradite and waterboard him, he may have sung out of fear. In the light of his plea bargain and the knowledge that the extent of his punishment depends on following US orders, the chances of the horrible truth emerging in the natural course is zero. Unless, we too demonstrate that the lives of Indians matters to India.

[Gerard]

Plea to examine Headley rejected

MUMBAI: A special court on Monday rejected the plea to make David Headley, an American terrorist of Pakistani origin, a witness in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks case. The prosecution argued that he was one of the accused.

[jrjrao]

Handling Headley -- Why the US refuses to oblige India
by K. Subrahmanyam
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100323/edit.htm#5

It is clear as daylight that Headley was selected by US agencies to penetrate the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT)....In such cases, often the penetrator may have to prove his commitment to the cause in order to gain the LeT’s confidence by carrying out the commissioned tasks.

The task given to the agent may well be a terrorist act. It is for the penetrating agency (the US handlers and their superiors) to decide whether to permit the assigned agent to carry out a terrorist task to gain the confidence of the terrorist organization (LeT) or to withdraw him at that stage. If the ultimate objective of the penetration operation was considered so important as to necessitate the agent to prove his credentials to the LeT the agency might have decided to authorise him to go ahead. It is also possible the penetrating organisation or the agent may not know the full scope of the terrorist act...

If this had been the case the US will not hand over Headley because it cannot afford to expose its penetration operation. The Headley story may be only one of the several simultaneous ongoing operations. He may have intelligence on some others. Intelligence obtained from him may be relevant to continuing other operations.

[Lalmohan]

one scenario could be that unkil is keeping the paqui handler's ID secret as a lever against the paquis? i.e. play ball or we'll let all the news out and next time those banias will be lifting your shalwar up over your waist...

[ramana]

I think KS garu comes close but is not revealing more. Look at all that he lays out about TSP involvement in 9/11. Its as good as GOI saying all that.

I am more convinced that my guess was correct that Headley is being kept to prevent revealing US connections.

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 99#p842599

Lalmohan they(TSPA) won't worry for they will say go ahead we will let the nukes fall into LeT hands.

That is the leverage the TSP has.

[Rangudu]

ramana

What is your hypothesis/guess on exactly what US ties to 26/11 or LeT are?

To me there are a couple of likely reasons for Unkil to cover up Headley - First is to avoid outage of other US moles, past or present that Headley might have knowledge of. Second is to avoid revealing whether US had specific knowledge of 26/11 but chose to let it happen rather than sacrifice Headley.

[ramana]

ramana

What is your hypothesis/guess on exactly what US ties to 26/11 or LeT are?

To me there are a couple of likely reasons for Unkil to cover up Headley - First is to avoid outage of other US moles, past or present that Headley might have knowledge of. Second is to avoid revealing whether US had specific knowledge of 26/11 but chose to let it happen rather than sacrifice Headley.

The first is what I think. And if you try to place Doaud Gilani aka David Headley you will find he is a RAPE of high standing and most likely knowledgable of the US-TSP links in the non-state actors arena.

[RamaY]

I think KS garu comes close but is not revealing more. Look at all that he lays out about TSP involvement in 9/11. Its as good as GOI saying all that.

I am more convinced that my guess was correct that Headley is being kept to prevent revealing US connections.

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 99#p842599

Lalmohan they(TSPA) won't worry for they will say go ahead we will let the nukes fall into LeT hands.

That is the leverage the TSP has.

Ramana-ji

Mumbai attack happened in Nov’2008. Headly must have participated in the preparation activities 6-12 months before the attack; so a good part of 2008 – let us assume January 2008.

If Headly is allowed to participate in this plan (11/26) then we need to know what positive operations USA had since that period, so we know what “other” operations it is trying to save by hiding Headly-11/26 link from India.

The list of successful/failed operations USA had between 11/26 and his arrest (May 2009?) will substantiate the above findings.

What forced USA to arrest him? Did they succeed in their “other” operations? Or Headly turned into a premature bum a.k.a the beloved Jordanian doctor who wiped out that CIA base in Dec’2009?

[Rangudu]

Headley was most likely arrested because India was either on to him or close to being so. Maybe TSP was on to him as well. He was headed to TSP when he was arrested. Most likely he would have been told by his handlers to go to India from TSP (via Dubai or elsewhere).

If India were to get him, then Unkil's secrets would be leaking daily on Mumbai Mirror, ToI etc.

[abhishek_sharma]

CNN-IBN:

US Envoy: No decision on India directly accessing Headley

[Patni]

No decision yet on giving India direct access to Headley: US

Posted: Tuesday , Mar 23, 2010 at 1106 hrs
New Delhi:
In a surprise development, the US on Tuesday said it has taken no decision to provide Indian investigators direct access to Pakistani-American David Headley, who has confessed to plotting the Mumbai terror attacks.

Four days after US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Robert Blake publicly stated here that the Indian investigators would have access to Headley, American Ambassador Timothy J Roemer said in a statement that "no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made."

Following Blake's statement and a telephonic discussion with US Attorney General and Head of the Department of Justice Eric Holder, Home Minister P Chidambaram had directed NIA and other agencies concerned in the case to quickly prepare documents necessary to start a judicial proceeding in which Indian authorities could require Headley to answer questions and to testify.
Sources in the Home Ministry had said on Monday India is likely to send a team of investigators in April to question 49-year old Headley.

Roemer's remarks also come amid reports that Pakistan was seeking access to Headley.

"As the Assistant Secretary indicated, the US is committed to full information sharing in our counter terror partnership and, in fact, in this case we have provided substantial information to the Government of India and we will continue to do so.

"However, no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made. The US Department of Justice will work with the Government of India regarding the modalities of such cooperation," Roemer said.

So pressure tactics from USA, to get more concessions (God knows what) from GoI, to allow "supervised access" to Headley.

[Patni]

U.S. Ambassador Timothy J. Roemer's Statement

U.S. Ambassador Timothy J. Roemer's Statement

March 23, 2010

NEW DELHI -- U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer clarified Assistant Secretary Robert O. Blake Jr's comments on Indian access to David C Headley made during Assistant Secretary Blake's recent trip to India. The Ambassador clarified that: "As the Assistant Secretary indicated, the U.S. is committed to full information sharing in our counter terror partnership and in fact in this case we have provided substantial information to the Government of India and we will continue to do so. However, no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made. The U.S. Department of Justice will work with the Government of India regarding the modalities of such cooperation."

[ramana]

NDTV:

LINK

David Coleman Headley with his differently-coloured eyes is a man India recognises now as the ominous architect of 26/11.

Yet, the man who waged war against Mumbai and scoured the country for new targets and victims remains off-limits to Indian investigators. On Tuesday, US Ambassador Timothy Roemer gave India a nasty surprise, stating, "The US is committed to full information sharing in our counter terror partnership and in fact, in this case we have provided substantial information to the Government of India and we will continue to do so. However, no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made. The US Department of Justice will work with the Government of India regarding the modalities of such cooperation."

Anger is building over what's being seen as America's mixed signals to India on its right to question the man at the centre of the country's biggest terror attack.

There was unease within the government and the Opposition after last week's plea bargain - Headley accepted he helped plan and execute 26/11 and other terror strikes at public places in India. In return, America promised Headley would not be extradited to India and waived the death penalty for Headley, whose terror conspiracy left more than 160 people dead during 26/11.

When Headley's plea bargain was first presented to a Chicago court, his lawyer said that Headley was obliged to accept interrogation by Indian officials. But the Indian government reacted cautiously. The plea agreement stated "Defendant further agrees that, when directed by the United States Attorney's Office, he will fully and truthfully testify in any foreign judicial proceedings held in the United States by way of deposition, video conferencing or letters rogatory."

Hours later, Home Minister P Chidambaram said that he was not clear whether the plea bargain meant that India would be able to put questions directly to Headley.

A day later, Chidambaram said that in a phone call, US attorney General Eric had assured him that Indian investigators could finally question India's most- wanted. "India would be able to obtain access to David Coleman Headley to question him in a properly constituted judicial proceeding. Such judicial proceeding could be either pre-trial or during an inquiry or trial. It is also my understanding that David Coleman Headley is obliged to cooperate fully and truthfully in such proceedings," said Chidambaram.

India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) started prepping a team that would leave soon for the US to access Headley. And then came the latest twist, courtesy the US Ambassador. Without any apparent context or trigger, Roemer said there was no decision on what sort of access India would have to Headley.

The Opposition attacked swiftly. What is surprising in it? We (Left) have already said that our relation with US is unequal. Our government will not assert the elementary rights which we should have, which is independent direct access to Headley," CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat said.

The government has been embarrassed similarly before on the Headley case. After Headley was arrested by the FBI in September in Chicago, a team of India investigators headed to the US but were not allowed to meet Headley.

Something is odd.

[svinayak]

Yet, the man who waged war against Mumbai and scoured the country for new targets and victims remains off-limits to Indian investigators.

Something is odd.

US is using this to get concessions from Pakistan govt and its "strategic negotiation"
They can extract from both sides

[shravan]

US is using this to get concessions from Pakistan govt and its "strategic negotiation"

I am sure Pakistan knows what Headley did in 1999 & 2000 in Pakistan & Afghanistan. Maybe Pakistan can use the information to get more Aid from America

If I am a India investigator I would be more interested in knowing what he did in those years than 26/11..

My previous post on Why we will not get direct access or full details of Headley - http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... t=#p792009

[Hari Seldon]

Does unkil realize that the Headley saga could bloody well color future interactions the SDREs have with them?

That the next time a kasab type is caught, the yanks (gasp!) may not be given access (or better still, babu may sit on the access decision forever)?

That the next time our guys have info on khan targets of the global jeehard, we might have to play hardball in exchanging it for gems out of headley's gut?

Or are the yanks counting on sweet words, offensive charms and short memories to continue to count of sdre co-operation into the far future?

Just wondering only.

[ramana]

Next Headley type can be traded for Rabinder Singh.

[negi]

That the next time a kasab type is caught, the yanks (gasp!) may not be given access (or better still, babu may sit on the access decision forever)?

Hari saar the problem is for Unkil to worry about 'next time' they would rather go by the SDRE's history in dealing with such situations which is more reassuring to the GOTUS than anything Jingos can speculate about.

[Pranay]

U.S. Ambassador Timothy J. Roemer's Statement

U.S. Ambassador Timothy J. Roemer's Statement

March 23, 2010

NEW DELHI -- U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer clarified Assistant Secretary Robert O. Blake Jr's comments on Indian access to David C Headley made during Assistant Secretary Blake's recent trip to India. The Ambassador clarified that: "As the Assistant Secretary indicated, the U.S. is committed to full information sharing in our counter terror partnership and in fact in this case we have provided substantial information to the Government of India and we will continue to do so. However, no decision on direct access for India to David Headley has been made. The U.S. Department of Justice will work with the Government of India regarding the modalities of such cooperation."

This whole saga is so painfully pathetic for India. The US is treating India and it's spineless "leadership" with the contempt it so richly deserves!!

It's even more painful to see elected representatives of the governing party come on television debates explaining the US position, justifying the subservience of India and it's position.

How low will we stoop...

[RamaY]

^^^

And when Indian opposition leader puts forward that question the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, he blames the opposition leader for all his faults in the past 230498234 years; instead of answering the question.

Then the Hon'ble Prime Minister defends the external players (unkil/uk/tsp/ksa/prc what not) intentions, philosophies and actions.

But, “Brutus is an honorable man”!

[ramana]

The way the US is handling the Headley affair is shattering the US image among Indian elite and chatterati. Indians are making unilateral statements about how they will question, nay grill Headley and the US is disabusing them publically. Why is this?

The heat from Mumbai attack was diverted to external 'non-state" actors like Headley etc as TSP was under the US protection. The expectation was that for the massive restraint showed after 26/11 the US would be more accomodating to allow H&D. Unfortunately for the US, Headley turned out to be their deep cover terrorist and hence more toxic to US itself. Hence the denial of access and stalling. Sure they are covering up their role in non-state actors in TSp but the bigger damage is to the gullibility of the Indian chatterati is being removed. If they did a balanced decision making process, giving Indian access to Headley is worth more than losing the Indian elite.

The biggest fallout from the US handling of the Headley affair is that in India, the TSP role in Mumbai Terrorist attack is on the back burner. Its now all about what is US hiding about Headley.

[Prem]

Yet, the man who waged war against Mumbai and scoured the country for new targets and victims remains off-limits to Indian investigators.

Something is odd.

US is using this to get concessions from Pakistan govt and its "strategic negotiation"
They can extract from both sides

Just make note of how fast the many interesting events moved /happended in AfPak after Headley's humming.

[chetak]

That the next time a kasab type is caught, the yanks (gasp!) may not be given access (or better still, babu may sit on the access decision forever)?

Hari saar the problem is for Unkil to worry about 'next time' they would rather go by the SDRE's history in dealing with such situations which is more reassuring to the GOTUS than anything Jingos can speculate about.

Why not simply throw out all the "agreements" that the GOTUS wants us to sign??

Don't pass the nuclear bill. Show the blighters that you mean business and that our national interest is supreme

[ramana]

Sorry if already posted.

B. Raman on 3/18/2010

US won't let truth regarding Headley come out

[sunnyP]

^^^

And when Indian opposition leader puts forward that question the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, he blames the opposition leader for all his faults in the past 230498234 years; instead of answering the question.

Then the Hon'ble Prime Minister defends the external players (unkil/uk/tsp/ksa/prc what not) intentions, philosophies and actions.

But, “Brutus is an honorable man”!

The current PM does a fantastic job at avoiding direct questions from the media and parliament. He gets such an easy ride and no one seems to care.

[ramana]

B.Raman's next article
HEADLEY'S PLEA BARGAIN: NEED FOR VICTIM OPPOSITION

Karan Dixit despite the title he has summarized the Headley timeline with details from the plea bargain. He lists the training courses and the visits.

Can you please update the timeline chart as keep us informed?

Thanks, ramana

[ramana]

I think India has discovered a loop hole in the plea bargain and hence the US envoy's backtracking. Its not so air tight as US thought.

MHA is very adamant about seeking access.

US Volte Face on Headley access

...
Just four days ago, the US had shut the door on any possibility of extraditing Headley to India to face the 26/11 trial as the Federal Bureau of Investigation entered into a deal with him, known in legal parlance as “plea-bargain”.

While Headley confessed to the key role he played in the planning of the terrorist strike in Mumbai in November 2008, as also his extensive links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba, in return he escaped death penalty and a possible extradition to India. As part of the bargain, he was not even required to name his contacts in Pakistan who, too, were key figures in the Mumbai terror conspiracy.

However, the US had suggested that India could get access to Headley on US soil, though the nature of such access was far from clear. Hoping to quickly question Headley, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had immediately contacted US Attorney General Eric Holder over phone. Chidambaram’s impression from the conversation was that India would be able to obtain access to Headley to question him “in a properly constituted judicial proceeding”.

It appeared from the latest US stand that India may have to be just content with whatever information Washington decides to share with it. It hasn’t shared much so far. It hasn’t provided the identify of Pakistanis with whom Headley had interacted during his visits to that country to plan the Mumbai attacks.

The turnaround of sorts would be music to Pakistan’s ears. It has come just a day before Pakistan Army chief General Asfaq Pervez Kayani’s scheduled talks with the US leadership in Washington on Wednesday. Kayani was the ISI chief during the days Headley and his handlers in Pakistan planned the Mumbai attacks.

However, the National Investigation Agency would continue to prepare for quizzing Headley. Home Ministry officials on Tuesday initiated consultation with Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam on legal issues involving the questioning of Headley.

So he is the General saheb!

[Gerard]

US makes U-turn

Later in a statement, Chidambaram said, “It is my understanding that India would be able to obtain access to David Coleman Headley to question him in a properly constituted judicial proceeding. Such judicial proceeding could be either pre-trial or during an inquiry or trial. It is also my understanding that David Coleman Headley is obliged to cooperate fully and truthfully in such proceedings.”

However, the Centre said it was not taking cognisance of US envoy’s remarks and made it clear that India would be sending its investigators to the US at the earliest. “I think we are going ahead and we are not really taking cognisance of the US Ambassador’s remarks,” Union Home Secretary GK Pillai said here.

We have no doubt whatsoever that we will get access to David Headley,” he told NDTV.

[ramana]

If Sri Pillai's people get access to Headley which they will based on Holder's comments to MHA, then Amb. Roemer's place in Delhi becomes unsustainable.

[A_Gupta]

Among the possibilities:

a. US doesn't want to say anything definite about Headley until their summit with Pakistan is over.

b. Headley has a get-out-of-prison-go-free card. IMO, India should have a reasonably recent photograph of Headley on his visa application. This should be published in every desi publication so that Headley will need major plastic surgery if he is let out under a witness protection type program. Since there are desis virtually everywhere, someone will recognize him - IF - his photograph is given wide publicity.

[A_Gupta]

Probably only a symbolic gesture, but - US-based desis in the Congressional districts of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

http://intelligence.house.gov/MemberList.aspx

could drop a note to their Congress person to the effect that it would be a good idea to let Indian investigators have at Headley (of course, after explaining who Headley is) and that the potential lives saved more than outweigh any potential embarrassment to the US's ally; and this access is exactly what the US would have expected had India made an equivalent arrest (e.g, see Vir Sanghvi). Just remember, you're not asking them to work against US' interests, you're making the case why this is in US' best interest.

In any case, I request US-based desis to be in touch with their congress reps on a regular basis - most of them have easy to find web-pages with contact info - and email to them or phone their offices about topical stuff, not just desi affairs, congratulating them on their successes and so on. At worst they'll invite you to attend some townhalls, and you'll get on their mailing list. But they do notice, I believe. And maybe one day it will result in something good.

[merlin]

The way the US is handling the Headley affair is shattering the US image among Indian elite and chatterati. Indians are making unilateral statements about how they will question, nay grill Headley and the US is disabusing them publically. Why is this?

The heat from Mumbai attack was diverted to external 'non-state" actors like Headley etc as TSP was under the US protection. The expectation was that for the massive restraint showed after 26/11 the US would be more accomodating to allow H&D. Unfortunately for the US, Headley turned out to be their deep cover terrorist and hence more toxic to US itself. Hence the denial of access and stalling. Sure they are covering up their role in non-state actors in TSp but the bigger damage is to the gullibility of the Indian chatterati is being removed. If they did a balanced decision making process, giving Indian access to Headley is worth more than losing the Indian elite.

The biggest fallout from the US handling of the Headley affair is that in India, the TSP role in Mumbai Terrorist attack is on the back burner. Its now all about what is US hiding about Headley.

Serious question ramana. What makes you think that even this will cause the US to lose the Indian elite. The behaviour of Indian elite in all these years would never lead one to that conclusion.

[SBajwa]

Indians who voted for Barack Hussain!!! will probably have come to their own senses and have realized their mistake.

Barack hussain and the whole democractic party (Hillary included) are the serpants who will come back to hit you again and again!! as many times as you want to become a victim!!

problem with india is that we are too much into "selt pityness" and gandhian values!! we have already suffered so much that it is beyond our simple gandhian comphrension!! only way is to become Ramchandra and hit them back with the same values as our heros!!! is to read RAMAYANA again and again..


Barak hussain is a villain for India...

[vera_k]

The biggest fallout from the US handling of the Headley affair is that in India, the TSP role in Mumbai Terrorist attack is on the back burner. Its now all about what is US hiding about Headley.

Doubt that this is possible. Most likely explanation is that the focus is being shifted to the US to deflect attention from the Indian leadership's culpability in Nov 26 08. It is all an attempt to forestall people approaching the SC to order investigation of the government actions prior to the event.

[arun]

The Solicitor General of India is advising that India should demand direct access to Pakistani origin terrorist Daood Gilani aka David Coleman Headley irrespective of the plea agreement between the terrorist and the US.

The Solicitor General of India opines that India is entitled to direct access to Pakistani descent terrorist Daood Gilani under the legal concept of “dual sovereignty”:

Govt advised to seek direct access to Headley

[SSridhar]

India seems to be in a fix not knowing what kind of 'access' it will have to Headley.

First P. Chidambaram said that the US Attorney general has assured him over the phone that Indian investigators will have access to the man with the differently-coloured eyes, Headley.

Next, the US Ambassador T.Roemer denied that any such decision on access had been taken by the US Government.

Now, P.Chidambaram is saying that Roemer's denial does not contradict what US Attorney general assured him over phone

”...If you reflect more carefully that sentence (of Roemer) no way (it) contradicts what the US Attorney (Eric Holder) has told me,”

His Department's Secretary, G.K.Pillai, on the other hand says that GoI is ignoring Roemer's statement, which obviously means that it is not in synch with what the US Attorney general assured his boss.

“I think we are going ahead and we are not really taking cognisance of the US ambassador’s remarks,”

The FBI spokesman says

“If the plea agreement says that Headley has agreed to meet with investigators from India, then that is what he will do. It is a question of when and where. But I’m sure if that is what he agreed to, that is what will happen”.

That word 'if' is not very comfortable.

The Union Law Minister, Veerappa Moily, is more philosophical

"....one day or the other, (the) US will have to agree and expedite the issue that Headley will have to undergo interrogation by our agencies"

That is not very optimistic, is it ?

[CRamS]

Guys:

spare me some patience, but what the f#$%ck is access to Headley going to get India? I mean is this guy going to tell India, jee, yes Kiyani Sahib & I plotted Mumbai over Scotch whisky while watching Bipasha Basu' lucky boy video? I mean, even if he tells India what it wants to know, what is India going to do with that info? Walk the extra mile with Kiyani? What if Headley says, some x,y,z from Mumbai of a particular community were involved? Are India's leaders going to loose sleep? I mean, this Headley BS has assumed a life of its own as though but for access to Headley, India has eveything else nailed. Give me a break.

Now throw in TSP's deft maneuver in also seeking access to Headley as a "front line ally". And boy will TSP spin cowbwebs around the b@lls of the spineless dhothiwallhs in Delhi; they will use their meeting with Headley to hang India by its own petard. They will say Headley revealed that some disgrinted Indian Muslims who suffered during Gujarat riots were involved. And can you imagine what that will do to the self-righteous, gutless, spinless, cowardly, Indian elite traitor elites? It will India that will be put on trial, not TSP, for Mumbai. Perhpahs this is the reason why US is ambivalent in providing India access to Headley and instead, prefer to deal with the issue silently to avoid any political fall out for MMS.

[SSridhar]

. . . but what the f#$%ck is access to Headley going to get India?

CRamS, India needs to know several things. Quickly off the hat,

• His Indian contacts
• His knowledge about sleeper cells in India
• Operational details of 26/11 that he was privy to and which could be used to stop future attacks or fill gaps in our security planning
• The methods he employed in visiting and scouring places

The US might have extracted some information from him, but we can't be sure how much of that has been passed on to us. Also, the Indian investigators may ask him questions, based on their knowledge of Pakistani terrorism and their terror infrastructure, that the US investigators would never have had a clue about. More importantly, India should exercise its rights, even if it brings no extra information, to at least set a precedent for future events. Let us also see how far is the US willing to go even as it talks of India as the 'most important strategic partner for the Twenty first Century'.